


Any Time You Want

by inkhead



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Crossdressing, M/M, dorky emotionally constipated boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-04
Updated: 2011-12-04
Packaged: 2017-10-26 21:56:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/288329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkhead/pseuds/inkhead
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Alex goes to visit Sean at his new apartment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. i. The Sheets

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was affectionately, if inaccurately, reffered to in working as 'The Hipster Verse.'  
> The soundtrack can be found [here](http://www.mediafire.com/?r6nwgx639wvwq85). If you don't download it, then I at least recommend you go listen to some Robert Jones, as their songs are quite important here.
> 
> All art was done by me.
> 
>   
> 

It starts simply. It’s normal that Alex should go up to see his - boyfriend? Friend with benefits? He doesn’t know, they’ve never really defined _this_ , this thing that’s hanging out like friends do, with kisses in dark corners, not secret but quiet, and waking up with tangled sheets that smell like them both, little smiles that no-one else sees.

Or at least that’s how it was, until Sean left for college last month, and an apartment of his own in New York. Alex isn’t particularly angry at him for leaving, he’s happy for him, but he misses Sean, hates that what used to be a thirty second walk down the hall has become a hour’s drive.

Alex could go to college too, he supposes. It’s an option he’d have once never considered, not with his record, but meeting Charles Xavier, moving to a mansion which is now an actual school, changed a lot of things for him. But even with the option, he’s not too keen to leave the first place he was ever accepted, ever actually wanted. So he hangs back, even does a little teaching for the kids with more destructive powers, those who need to learn control.

It was easier for Sean - he’d always wanted to leave home, jumped at the choice to join their little group, and now he’s leaving again. Although it’s not -

'It’s not _leaving_ leaving,' Sean had said, noticing how Alex’s face had fallen just a little when he’d seen Sean’s acceptance letter. 'We can still see each other, we can still call and write, I’m not that far away, really, and-' Alex had shut him up with a kiss, before pulling away and quietly assuring Sean that he was happy for him, that he wasn’t mad.

And it’s actually surprising to Alex how sincere those words were. He thought he’d be at least a little pissed that the first person he’d ever let get really past his barriers, under his skin, was moving away, but somewhere along the line he’d started caring more about Sean’s happiness than his own, started trusting him enough that he knows Sean isn’t leaving _him_.

And he knows, he knows that Sean misses him just as much. The night before he’d left, they’d stayed up in bed for hours, sweat soaking through the sheets as they moved, one more time, just once more. The ‘come with me,’ the ‘stay’ remained unspoken. And now they speak more than they ever did before, without physical touch, and Alex would be hard pressed to admit that most of the time he’s not calling so much to get off as just to hear Sean’s voice, which seems a little more tired every time they speak. Sean’s always been halfway to insomnia, but right now he seems worse than ever.

Alex isn’t sleeping great either.

\---

It’s late afternoon when Alex pulls into the parking lot of Sean’s apartment building. It’s big and old, and it seems nice; the windows look to be big for the size of the apartments, metal balconies and fire escapes weaving down between them. Alex has seen photos of Sean’s apartment, but never been there before, and Sean has written him instructions on how precisely to get there; 8th floor (as high up as he could get, naturally) - don’t use the left hand elevator, it always breaks down- No. 15 on the right. And when Alex gets there, bag in hand, avoiding the elevator which is indeed broken-down, Sean answers the door, more gangly and freckled than ever, with his hair longer than before, pushed out of his eyes and curling around his neck.

He smiles widely - 'Alex, hey man, hi' - and leans down to kiss him right there in the doorway.

Alex pushes past him, grinning despite himself, and shoves through into the apartment,

'Come on man, let me get through the door, would you?' Sean takes his jacket, hangs it on one of the hooks in the tiny entrance way, and drops his bag beneath it. Alex looks around.

It’s nice - small, just one main room and the bathroom, but it’s only Sean there, so it doesn't matter. He’s stood between a squashy looking couch and a small kitchenette, the latter of which is surprisingly tidy. Across from him is Sean's bed, and his desk is tucked way in a little alcove opposite its foot. But Alex was right; the main feature of the room is the two windows which take up the whole upper half of the wall facing the couch. With the blinds up, light streams through them, making everything seem larger and airy.

Looking around, the apartment is distinctly Sean. His guitar hangs on the wall beside the couch, and the shelving above that and his bed is filled with Sean’s books, comics, and bits and pieces Alex recognises, one of which might be a fragment of one of Alex’s burnt-out blasting panels. A look at his desk reveals stacks of CDs, Sean’s horrifyingly expensive sound system - Alex hadn’t understood at first, until Sean had _glared_ at him, actually glared and scowled and sat Alex down with the headphones on. And then Sean hit play, and oh yes, Alex _understood_.

His laptop is there, hidden under scraps of paper, but no TV - Sean doesn’t watch a lot of television, if somethings worth watching he’ll generally look it up himself.

There’s a closet door, covered in posters and bits of art, and like the kitchen, it’s suspiciously tidy. Knowing Sean, even the small space wouldn’t stop his belongings slowly sprawling everywhere. Alex can’t shake the feeling that Sean actually _cleaned up for him_.

'Not much, but it’s home, right?' Alex whirls round to meet Sean’s smiling eyes.

'Yeah,' Alex grins back, 'It’s nice, I like it.'

They stand facing each other with that slight awkwardness inherent to friends who haven’t seen each other in a while, an Alex takes in the shadows underneath Sean’s eyes, notes the slightly manic giddiness Sean gets when he hasn’t slept enough, which when it comes to Sean is definitely saying a lot.

Something in Alex aches a little.

He speaks first. 'How’s your course going?'

Sean bursts into enthusiasm. 'Fucking _great_ , I’m working on this thing with Rob from my class- sit down man, you’re my guest, let me get you a drink...'

Alex flops down on the couch, listening as Sean reaches into the cupboards and gesticulates about his course. Sean brings his drink over and folds himself onto the couch, tucking his lanky limbs underneath each other. Alex sips his drink, absorbed enough that when he reaches back to put it on the side table, he knocks something off with his elbow. Alex swears and twists round to see what he hit, and sees a clunky looking camera on the floor, thankfully unbroken.

'That’s Lucy’s old camera, she doesn’t use it anymore, said I could mess around with it. Got it off her the other day, the departments are all kind of intermingling and incestuous, so I see the art and photography majors a lot. It takes polaroids, see?' Sean shows him how to work it, and Alex pays attention, not so much out of any particular interest, but more to hear Sean animated and enthused for what seems like the first time in far too long.

\---

That night, Alex and Sean will meander around the flat, kissing and talking and pressing closely into each other. They’ll muss the sheets, twisting them up in painfully familiar ways, and before they sleep, under pretense of testing out the camera, Alex will take a picture of them, and sit shaking the polaroid, although he knows it’s pointless, whilst he waits for Sean to come back from the bathroom. They’ll sleep then, too tired to do anything but fold into each other’s arms, and both will sleep better than they have in months.

  



	2. ii. The Dress

Alex has woken up with Sean on top of him before. It’s rare on a week-day (Sean is decidedly  _not_  a morning person), but once your mornings start to edge towards noon, it’s fairly likely to happen.

Sean’s never been in a dress before.

Which, though not unpleasant, is surprising enough that Alex briefly thinks he’s still dreaming. The warm weight placed squarely about his morning wood, however, is real enough to convince him he’s not. Which means Sean is actually on top of him. In a dress.

Alex’s brain doesn’t function too well before his coffee.

His flustering, however, is interrupted by Sean leaning forward with his hands on either said of Alex’s head, one eyebrow cocked.

'Well?'

Sensing Alex’s complete inability to process  _anything_ , Sean barrels bravely on.

'I couldn't really ever do this back at the mansion, see. ‘Side from anything else, it was kind of creepy with the Professor maybe knowing about it.'

Alex might have shuddered a little. Prof. Xavier might be hot in that English-Oxfordian way, but when he’d kind of adopted you, sex stuff tends to get awkward.

'I didn’t know you were into this,' says Alex, finally regaining the power of speech. Sean shrugs.

'I dunno. It’s just...it’s nice. Soft.' Which is true. The dress is simple, cotton, pale floral print and probably some kind of sundress, Alex wouldn’t know. It gapes just a little at the chest, and he can tell it’d be too short if Sean stood up, brushing the tops of his freckled thighs.

'It’s pretty.'There’s no hesitancy here, no shyness, just this boy-in-a-dress being honest. 'Can’t a guy be pretty every now and then?'

Alex has several vague, unformed thoughts at that, about Sean’s hair in the morning sun and how blue his eyes are. They twinge a little, in the same way poking at a faded hickey does. Good-uncomfortable, and why is Alex thinking about feelings when he has a gorgeous boy in his lap?

And despite his skinny wrists, and that in this dress, with his hair now just a little over long, he might in passing be read as a girl, there’s no doubt that it’s Alex’s boy in the bed, with his brash voice and his guitar callused fingers.

The tent of his dress, of course, would be a clue any day.  
With that, Alex reaches to tug Sean down to fit their mouths together. Sean smiles into the kiss, too many teeth against Alex’s lips, and Alex sucks Sean’s lower lip into his mouth. Sean groans and rocks his hips down as their mouths open and tongues slide together, slow and slick and a little filthy.

Alex’s hands move to Sean’s hips as he flips them over, splaying Sean’s legs and rucking up the skirt around his hips. Alex moves between them running his hands up Sean’s thighs, and he’s caught between disappointment that Sean didn’t complete the look further, and gratitude that there’s nothing but the easily lifted cotton between him and Sean’s skin. Alex pushes the skirt up, past Sean’s sharp hip bones to his waist, the fabric just a little damp where Sean’s cock had pushed at it. He wraps his hand round Sean’s cock, leans up to suck a bruise into Sean’s collarbone, and Sean swears and pushes up into Alex’s fist. Grinning, Alex brushes a kiss on the head of Sean’s cock before sliding his fingers to press between Sean’s cheeks.

But before he can grab the lube, Sean shoves at his shoulder. Alex looks up, brows knitted together.

'You think you get to top just ‘cos I’m in a dress?'

Alex is, confused to say the least, Sean’s never been picky before, but before he can say anything Sean rolls his eyes, and pushes at Alex until he’s twisted onto his back, propped on his elbows. Sean crawls back on top of him with a grin, and kisses him deep.

'Never said I didn’t want you to fuck me, did I?'

Sean turns to grab the lube from their bedside table - Alex takes a brief moment to appreciate the view of Sean’s ass this gives him - before he once again finds himself shoved flat on his back with Sean grinning like a Cheshire cat.

This appears to be a theme.

But then - 'Just enjoy the show, why don’t you?' - Alex has other things to think about, like Sean’s skinny fingers, slick and shiny, disappearing up his skirt, the sound of Sean’s voice as he pushes in, the way his hips rock down, fucking back onto his fingers.

'Fuck, Alex, fuck, need-' Sean grabs at Alex’s wrist with his free and and shoves it towards his ass.

Alex sits up eagerly, cupping Sean’s ass before pressing in a hastily slicked finger beside Sean’s two. Sean lets out a ragged breath, and really, his cock is bobbing right there in front of Alex’s face, so it’s only natural that he noses at it through damp fabric, takes it into his mouth. It tastes like cotton and salt and Sean, which isn’t at all bad, really.

Sean groans - 'Your fucking  _mouth_ , Alex' - and pulls his fingers from his body. He kisses Alex, quick and a little sloppy, who moves his hands to Sean’s hips. Sean pulls the skirt aside and up before slowly sinking down on Alex’s cock. Alex lets out a shuddering breath; Sean’s head tips back, red curls falling aways, back arched as he adjusts to Alex.

They’re used to this, so it’s not long before Sean moves his hands to Alex’s stomach for balance and starts to move. His hips snap down, spine liquid and Alex’s head lolls backwards, mouth open and panting. Their sweat slicked bodies move smoothly together, and Alex rocks up to meet Sean.

When Sean’s voice pitches higher - 'Fuck, Alex right there  _yesyesfuckyes_ '- Alex sits up and takes hold of Sean’s hips, helping him up where his thighs are trembling and pulling him down harder into his lap. He reaches one handed to cup Sean’s jaw and kisses him messily until they pull back, leaning close, foreheads sliding together as they breathe each other’s air.

'...gonna...soon-'

'yeah, fuck, me too-' Alex moans as Sean clenches around him and tucks his face into Sean’s neck. He tugs Sean’s earlobe between his teeth, grazing down the soft flesh, and sucks at the tendons standing out in Sean’s neck.

Sean curses and pushes down harder, hand sliding between them to wrap around his cock, but Alex knocks it away.

'The fuck, man?'

Alex grins. 'Come like this. Just from my dick, think you can?' He bites hard at Sean’s lower lip, tugging, and Sean might whimper a bit as his face scrunches up and he digs his nails into Alex’s back. Alex laughs, holds tight to his hips and fucks up into him.

'Come on, come for me-' and Sean does, arching and cursing and shuddering out Alex’s name.

  


  
Sean sags for a moment against him, but before long he’s grinding down, panting hotly into Alex’s ear - 'Come on man, do it,  _fuck_ me' - before Alex is biting down on Sean’s shoulder and groaning out his own orgasm.

They slouch together, breathing hard, before collapsing sideways onto the bed. Sean smiles lazily at Alex and blows a strand of sweat soaked hair out of his face, before leaning forward to kiss him.

It’s naturally at this moment that Alex’s body reminds him that the customary thing to do after you’ve woken up is not to fuck ginger minxes in dresses, but eat. Sean snorts and flops over on to his front, telling Alex to go eat and mumbling something about Alex’s stomach ruining his afterglow.

When Alex returns from the kitchen, toast crumbs at the corner of his mouth and coffee in hand, he sees that Sean has turned over again, sprawled out and dozing across the sheets. He hasn’t taken the dress off, and one strap is slipping a little off his shoulder, revealing his bitten, freckled collarbone.

Something twinges at Alex’s heart, and he puts down his coffee, and picks up the camera from the side table.


	3. iii. The Drums

  
When Alex is woken up on Sunday morning by the sound of Sean rattling around in the kitchen, it’s still dark.

He never used to be so confused when he woke up with Sean.

'What the fuck are you doing awake at this time?'

Sean grins at him from the kitchen counter, and he’s much more attractive than he should be at ass o’clock in the morning, lit from below by the fluorescent light beneath the cupboards. Alex hates him a little sometimes.

At least he does until Sean brings over his coffee, which is black, brewed and sugared to his exact preferences. Alex’s heart twinges a bit - this boy is going to be the death of him, he swears- and he swallows his coffee around the lump that has suddenly appeared in his throat.

When Alex looks slightly more conscious, Sean explains. 'There’s this place on top of one of the college buildings, with an awesome view, you can see fucking everything, and there’s a load of us who go up there on Sundays, jam and shit. Thought you’d like to come.'

Which is why Alex, 20 minutes later, is shuffling after Sean through brick alleyways in the thin, pre-dawn light, up the stairs of some unfamiliar building until they reach the open roof. There are some people already here, a quiet mixture of boys with long hair, girls with half- or fully-shaved heads, and a faded rainbow of dye jobs that could do with a little touching up. Not everyone there is a musician - as Sean leaves him with a soft, quiet kiss, before walking over to talk to a man by the drum kit, Alex sits propped against the concrete edging of the roof, a little way away from someone of ambiguous gender, curled up with a sketchbook and an array of drawing utensils, and a girl with reddish-brown hair and red glasses. They smile and wave at him before returning to their own quiet, laughing discussion, jotting things in their notebooks.

Alex isn’t sure whether or not it had been a surprise that Sean was musically talented. On one hand, he could shatter glass with his voice at 100 feet. But his voice is his power, and if he could control it one way, it makes a bizarre sort of sense that he could make something beautiful out of it as well. Alex has heard him play guitar a thousand times, and sing too, but although he’s known that Sean can drum, Alex has never seen him do so.

It’s a strange atmosphere for Alex to be in, really. He appreciates good music, good writing, and some art, but he’s never really been that creative himself, even as he sits with the camera beside him that Sean told him to bring along. It makes sense of course - Alex’s powers are so inherently destructive that he can’t really see himself creating anything. But right now he’s surrounded by people who do - who craft lines and images and words and ideas on a daily basis. People who make you feel with a well placed splash of colour, the right sequence of notes. And it’s nice, although he feels like what he’s experiencing right now, when every-one's still half asleep, just loosening up into themselves, is nothing at all. There’s a quiet energy, a slight buzz in the air that must be tangible in full flow.

And it feels, well, like it doesn’t belong to Alex. But he’s here, Sean has brought him here, into his place, where Alex has never seen him before, but he’s loose and happy and calm. Sean wants him here, in this place where he spins his heart strings into music and throws them out to ensnare those who listen. Sean wants him _here_.

Sean takes his place behind the drum kit just as the sun starts to edge above the horizon. Colours bleed into the sky, red-orange-purple, throwing the band into silhouette. Sean picks up a light, lazy beat, dancing across the cymbals, as the guitarists pull the ghosts of chords and riffs from their guitar strings. A moment of hush falls across the gathered spectators; Alex leans forward and rests his chin on his interlaced hands, bridged across his knees. When the sun has fully risen, they burst into a fast paced rhythm, and Sean begins to sing.

There is something entrancing about watch Sean perform. His voice, like the rest of him, is by no means conventionally attractive, but it draws Alex in, a little high and yearning. He almost yowls, but his voice hooks a hand around Alex’s heart and squeezes, almost uncomfortably, holding it in his throat. His body is coiled and drawn, skinny limbs whipcord strong and fast as he beats across the drums. His hair hangs into his face, red strands covering where Alex knows Sean’s face is tight and focused, brows scrunched together like they do when he’s concentrating. Every song they play, no matter how relaxed it starts, has a sense of urgency to it, and it pulls through Alex’s veins, twisting round the meeting of his bones. flowing up the tendons. As the band play on, the others drop into quiet conversation, working and laughing and enjoying the atmosphere, but Alex can’t pull away, not with how his skin is buzzing and burning on the inside, so he settles back against the wall, watching through his eyelashes. He slumps a little, and nudges against the camera with his hip. He puts down a hand to push himself up straight, then picks up the camera, flicking it open. Feeling as if he ought to make a little artistic effort, he peers through the view finder until he finds a composition he likes, and clicks the button down.

\---

Alex opens his eyes to Sean crouching in front of him, eyes twinkling and the sun low in the sky behind him.

'Hello, sleepy.' There’s a smile in Sean’s voice, and the corners of Alex’s mouth can’t help but reply.

'Er. Hey. Sorry?' For all the adrenaline Sean’s music had given him, in the warm sun and the breeze that had caught up after a while, Alex had found himself more than a little lulled.

'No problem, dude, we’ve been here hours.' Sean straightens up, and reaches down a hand to help Alex up. Before Alex stands, he picks up the camera, and pockets the polaroid, a snap of Sean’s feet on the hi-hat pedal, light reflecting of the bass drum.  
As they make their way back to the apartment, Alex finds out that drumming gets Sean hyped up as all fuck. He discovers this when Sean presses him up against the brick wall of an alley way and kisses the breath out of him.

'Thought you’d have been tired out by now,' he gasps out when Sean pulls away. Sean just grins, then drops to his knees. Alex’s eyes widen.

'It’s still fucking daytime! We’re in public!’

Sean sits back on his haunches and cocks his head up at Alex. 'Do you really care?'

Alex looks around quickly, taking in how sheltered the alley is, and can’t say he does, not when he’s been half hard for hours and Sean is on his knees in front of him, buzzing and eager.

'Fuck no,' he says, and Sean smirks at him briefly before reaching to unbutton Alex’s jeans.

Sean is a tease. Sean is always a fucking tease who, despite his eagerness to physically get _in_ to Alex’s pants, proceeds to spend plenty of time kissing around his stomach and hip bones while avoiding the precise area he’d been so desperate to access. Alex rolls his eyes and growls, bucking his hips forward.

‘Not the fucking _time_ , Sean, come on.’

Sean is silent and wicked and hooks his fingers into Alex’s boxers, tugging them over his hips and his cock before parting his lips and kissing away the precome that’s beading at the tip. After another growl from Alex he smiles, eyes flicking up before sliding down over Alex’s cock.

Sean sucks cock like he fucking needs it, like there’s nothing else he’d rather be doing than scuffing his knees on dirty paving, taking Alex deep enough that his nose is pressed against coarse blond curls, digging his skinny fingers into Alex’s hips, holding him still. It’s warm and wet and too slow for where they are, so good that it’s murder for Alex tell Sean to hurry, tangling his fingers tight in Sean’s hair and whining as he unconsciously tries to buck his hips. Sean gets the hint, starts sucking hard and sloppy, twisting his tongue and before Alex knows it or can warn him his vision whites out.

When Alex’s brain starts to function again, he’s pressed up against the bricks behind him, body gone loose, with Sean kissing him, mouth slick and tasting of Alex. He presses forward, tongue slipping into Sean’s mouth and chasing out his own come. Sean grins giddily as Alex pulls back, tugging on his lower lip before spinning them around and pushing his hand into Sean’s jeans. By the time the street lamps are flickering on at the mouth of the alley, Sean is shuddering and arching forward, breathing hard into Alex’s neck. After a moment he pulls away and leans heavily against the wall, tipping his head back. Alex moves to wipe his hand off on his jeans but Sean grabs his wrist. Alex cocks an eyebrow and Sean laughs before pulling his hand up and licking at it, his red tongue darting like a cat’s. Alex can’t help himself when he surges forwards to kiss him, their teeth because Sean is too fucking amused by everything right now and can’t seem to drop his crooked grin.

His energy, at least, has simmered down, Alex thinks, as Sean shuffles away from the wall and pulls him lazily by the wrist he still holds down to the orange light that falls from the streetlamp at the end of the alley.


	4. iv. The Cigarettes.

  


 When they stumble back into Sean’s apartment, it’s past sunset, and Alex’s post-orgasm glow has worn off enough to give way to the pit in his stomach. Sean too is quiet, and pensive looking, face a little drawn in the dark apartment. Alex flicks on the lights, and Sean stretches, popping his back, then digs into the pockets of his too-tight jeans for his cigarettes.

  
'You coming?' Sean asks, jerking his head towards the balcony.  
'Yeah, sure, just a sec,’ Alex replies, before walking to the bathroom.  
When he’s done, and has scrubbed water over his face, brushing away his lazy tiredness - his skin tingles from being in the sun all day, and he’s incredibly grateful that he tends to tan rather than burn - Sean is already outside, and Alex pauses in the doorway when he sees him.

Sean is sat on the floor of the balcony, barefooted legs hung over the edge. He’s leaning forward, his freckled arms hooked through the metal railings, a cigarette dangling from his skinny fingers, the end an orange glow in the shadows. Sean has his hair pulled back into a short ponytail, keeping it off his neck in the heat that hasn’t quite evaporated into the evening. He’s lit from behind in the warm light that spills out of the apartment windows, and in that moment Sean looks like everything Alex never knew he wanted. He’s a little painful to look at, and Alex has a thousand things to say and not one of them will make its way up and out of his throat. So he moves outside to sit cross-legged back against the open door. Sean turns and smiles at him, then sits back a little from the railings. He’s got the camera with him, and he fiddles with it, snapping photos of the buildings opposite.

‘S’pretty cool,’ Sean says with a grin, and passes it to Alex. Alex nods, raising his eyebrows in agreement, and picks the camera up.

He may not be creative, he may not be an artist, but he will capture this. The line of Sean’s jaw, the strands of copper that have fallen out of their tail, curling into his face. The curl of smoke from his parted lips, the way his body folds together as he draws one knee up against his chest. And Alex can’t, he can’t say a work, so he puts the camera aside, and when Sean takes another drag on the cigarette, Alex kisses him before he can exhale. Sean draws back, a little confused, but Alex just kisses him, again and again, soft and open mouthed until his tongue slides out to run over Sean’s lower lip. When Sean stands up and pulls Alex with him, Alex thinks, he hopes that something has been communicated.

Sean drops his cigarette, leaving it to smoulder on the chipped paint that coats the metal floor, and grabs Alex by his shirt, pulling him in for a desperate, hungry kiss.

They’re little more than wet tongues and teeth as the two make their way, never parting, through the balcony door and tumble onto the bed. From their sides, Alex rolls them so he’s braced above Sean, weight on his elbows as his hands come up to tangle Sean’s hair out of its ponytail. He slows the kiss, needs this to last, drags his teeth over Sean’s lower lip. Sean groans and arches up, fingers scrabbling across Alex’s back before hooking into his pockets and and yanking down to grind their hips together. Alex lets out a ragged breath and moves his hands, skimming down Sean’s sides before sliding underneath his shirt, exposing his pale stomach and the sharp cut of his hips. He runs his fingers along the waistband of Sean's jeans, where they’ve ridden down low, and Sean sucks in an audible breath. Alex grins momentarily before undoing Sean’s pants and pulling them down to mid thigh. Sean lifts his hips to help and Alex slides his hands under to grip his ass, eyes flicking up to meet where Sean is looking down hotly at him, face flushed and hair in his eyes.

All at once Alex cannot fucking wait for anything. So he sits up quickly, stripping of his shirt and shoving his jeans down his hips. Sean pulls his legs up to drag off his jeans and underwear, and in seconds his legs are wrapped around Alex’s waist as Alex moves to kiss the breath out of him, cocks sliding together. They gasp into each other’s mouths, shoving and rutting and Alex can’t think or speak or do anything but drag up against Sean, sweat-slick in this heat and the too-bright light of the apartment, pushing and biting down on Sean’s shoulder, dragging the collar of his t-shirt aside, _feel this, feel me, feel everything I do and understand it because I can’t say a fucking word_ and too fast Sean’s arching up against him and gasping out and Alex fucking sobs out his name.

They lie there, trembling and panting, until Sean shoves Alex off him.

'You’re fucking heavy, man.' Alex sits up then, moves so he’s sat on the edge of the bed. Sean sits beside him, and looks at Alex for several long moments. It looks like he’s trying to say something, like Sean’s tongue is working silently behind closed lips, but nothing comes out, and Sean looks away and stands up to pull his shirt off. As Alex takes his jeans the rest of the way off, Sean flicks the light switch.

They get back into bed slightly awkwardly, still a little breathless, and lay, side by side, facing each other in the darkness.

The bed is too hot, the sheets damp. It takes much longer than usual for them to fall asleep. When they eventually do, they’ve kicked off the sheets. Sean is sprawled out on his back with Alex laid across him, arms wrapped tightly around him and his face buried in the junction of Sean’s neck and shoulder. They both ignore how much it feels like their hearts are trying to beat through into the other’s chest and never, never leave.


	5. v. The Coffee

Alex wakes up first. The sun is up, pale yellow filtering through the window a little way above him, but it’s still early, long before Sean has to go to class. Before Alex has to leave. He frowns and wriggles out of bed, carefully easing out of where Sean’s limbs have tangled and knotted around him in a manner not dissimilar from the way Alex’s stomach has twisted up.

Sean is peaceful in sleep, especially young-looking with how his face smooths out, his hair tangled forward over his face. With Alex out of bed, he rolls over, arms curling around his pillow as he hides his face from the morning light. Alex’s lips are caught somewhere between a half-smile and a frown.

He turns away, walks to the kitchen cupboards, and rummages as quietly as he can for mugs. Sean made him coffee yesterday; he feels as if he ought to return the favour. There’s a heaviness in his gut as he fills the kettle, measuring out coffee and sugar and tipping it into the chipped mugs.

He’s been here two days and it already feels too much like home.

The kettle flicks off, rumbling merrily, and as Alex pours the hot water, teaspoon clicking against ceramic, he hears a stirring behind him. He turns to see Sean sat up, looking slightly stunned at the existence of the world in general, half cross-legged, arms splayed out, hair that could be generously described as a haystack. Alex recognises the signs of someone deeply in need of caffeine, and hands him the coffee without a word.

Alex moves to sit beside Sean whilst the latter sips his coffee, eyes bleary and crusted with sleep, and waits for the caffeine to seep into his nervous system. There’s a comfortable silence between them - a warm breeze curling through where the windows are open just a crack, quiet noises echoing through, footsteps on the concrete far below and a car passing by.

Sean sits up properly, tucks his legs neatly under one-another and places his coffee in his lap, both hands wrapped around the mug. He isn’t looking at Alex, but instead stares down into his cooling coffee like there are words written in the liquid.

‘What time are you leaving?’

‘Er. I don’t know. When you leave for class, I guess,’ Alex replies.

Sean hasn’t looked at him yet. His tongue pokes out, wetting his lower lip, and Alex sees him take a deep breath. Sean lifts his head.

‘You could. Stay, y’know. Here. If you’d like.’ He trails off and mutters something under his breath.

Alex’s eyes widen. ‘Wait, what?’

Sean grimaces and rushes through his words. ‘It’s kind of why I invited you. Because you seemed reluctant to leave home and you could study here, you’re not stupid, man, you’re not, and I thought maybe if you saw what it was like you’d stay. With me.’ He flushes redder than his hair.

Alex is. Shocked. Lost for words. Because it can’t be that easy. He didn’t want to leave Westchester because nowhere else had ever felt like home except now there was somewhere else because _Sean_ , fucking Sean had to smile and tangle him in his sheets and play him music and Alex is so fucking confused. And even if Charles wouldn’t mind he’s not there to help out anymore, even if Hank would roll his eyes and shove him out the door. It can’t be that easy.

For the second time in twenty four hours, Alex has a thousand words jostling around in his throat.

This time, one makes its way out.

‘Okay.’

Sean looks up, his eyebrows disappearing under his hair.

‘Okay?’

Alex grins despite himself. ‘Okay. I’ll stay.’

Maybe it is that easy.

Sean’s smile is _blinding_. ‘Um. Okay. Wow. Awesome’

It’s probably for the best when Alex kisses him silent.

They spend the short time until Sean has to leave kissing and laughing and by the time Sean can drag his mouth away from Alex and run out the door he’s ten minutes late and still finishing getting dressed. Alex doesn’t mind being left in the apartment by himself- Sean’s set up his laptop, and he’s got a lot of phone calls to make.

Before he does, he notices his and Sean’s mugs, huddled together on the bedside table, and Alex has a final burst of artistic inspiration.

\---

6 months later, the apartment is still halfway between messy and clean. There are a few key changes, however. There is slightly more assorted crap on the shelves, and few extra posters on the walls. There’s a red toothbrush next to Sean’s green one in the bathroom. Underneath Sean’s scattered sheet music and notes, Alex’s Social Sciences textbooks can be found, tucked between CDs and being used to prop up a laptop.  
There are always two mugs on the coffee table.

And on the noticeboard, are five polaroids, pinned in a row.


End file.
